CALGARY — Fertilizer giant Nutrien Ltd. says it has achieved US$40 million in cost-savings since being created from a merger of Potash Corp. and Agrium Inc. at the start of the year.

Company CEO Chuck Magro says the company is focused on achieving half a billion dollars in annual synergies with the combined company by the end of 2019.

The Saskatoon-based company says in its first results since combining that it expects earnings of between US$3.2 billion and US$3.7 billion this year before some deductions, and earnings per share of between US$2.10 and US$2.60.

For the fourth quarter of 2017, the last before the merger, Agrium pulled in net earnings of US$18 million compared with US$67 million for the same quarter in 2016.

Potash Corp. saw a net loss of US$76 million for the fourth quarter last year, compared with earnings of US$46 million for the same quarter a year earlier.

Nutrien sold its stake in Israel Chemicals Ltd. last month for US$685 million to appease regulators and says it expects to pull in more cash from the ongoing sale of equity positions that it will reinvest in its business and return to shareholders.